In-person in Harrisonburg and online throughout Virginia.

Relationship Therapy for Sexual Assault Survivors and Single Women

Feel at home again in your life and relationships.

Schedule a free consultation →

You deserve a life - and a love - that feels whole.

You’re ready for a loving and healthy relationship, but stepping back into the dating world feels incredibly daunting. Maybe you are trying to figure out how a past sexual assault is going to impact your dating life. Maybe you’re trying to navigate the vulnerability of opening up to someone new again. Maybe you’re just longing to feel at peace with wherever your life ends up, whether in a relationship or not. Trauma survivor or otherwise, riding the cycle of hope and disappointment while dating and feeling the pressure to “find a partner already” is exhausting.

  • You’re afraid there aren’t any good and safe partners left out there.

  • You wish the right partner would just show up at your front door, all dreamy and like, “Hi, I’m single, here’s my resume, what do you want to know about me?” In the least creepy way possible. (Obviously.)

  • You feel like you’re behind, like the clock is ticking and you’re running out of time. 

  • You’re ready to be done feeling afraid. But despite your best efforts, you haven’t been able to quell the fears on your own.

  • You feel so much pressure to find a partner, but sometimes you’re still not even sure if that’s what you want. Some days you do, but other days you’re pretty content and not even sure that “wanting a partner” or “wanting a family” is really how you feel.

  • You want to find peace and contentment with wherever you end up, whether single or partnered, with children or child-free.

  • You want a therapist who understands trauma and attachment well enough to help you keep heading toward the healthy and loving relationship you crave.

Finding confidence, self-trust, and joy in your dating life, on your terms.

What if you could feel calm, confident, and at home with yourself in the dating world?

What if you could know without a doubt that a healthy relationship is possible for you?

What if you could trust yourself enough to start walking toward the life you seek?

Relationship therapy can help you build that self-trust, calm your fears, and find a little joy again as you’re searching for a healthy, secure, and loving relationship. We’ll take time to understand what narratives you carry about dating, sex, and intimacy, how those are shaping you, and how you can remold the unhelpful parts into a better internal guide. We’ll figure out what’s tripping you up, and we’ll help you learn to listen to what your body and intuition are telling you. Most importantly, we’ll get in touch with what you want, not what everyone else has told you that you should want. Hopefully you’ll even discover some fun and adventure in your life along the way. 

If you’re a sexual assault survivor, we’ll also give some extra attention to the way that sexual assault has reshaped your narratives, and we’ll rebuild your internal sense of trust so you can start listening to your own voice again, rather than deferring to others. And if you’re wanting to, we’ll help you listen to your body’s needs and pacing so you can ease back into physical intimacy on your terms, and your terms only, not anyone else’s.

Above all else, we’ll remind you to keep living your full life, not just this dating part. 

You are whole, unbroken, and capable of thriving,

whether you are in a relationship or not,
whether you’ve experienced a sexual assault or not. 

Let’s help you replant that wisdom into the deepest depths of your soul.

Relationship therapy can help you:

  • Quell fears you’re still carrying after an assault

  • Define and assert your boundaries

  • Find your personal agency, shifting from “being chosen” to choosing

  • Strengthen your sense of confidence and self-trust

  • Discover some joy in figuring out your love life

  • Invite in the healthy, secure, and loving relationship you want

  • Reject the relationships you don’t want

  • Feel more peace and contentment about how your life has shaped out

What if the life and contentment you dream about is still possible?

Let’s find out together.

Reach out for a free consultation →

FAQs about Relationship Therapy for Sexual Assault Survivors and Single Women

  • Yes - you’re exactly who I work with! I don’t do couples work. This is individual therapy to help you figure out if and how you want to date, clear whatever obstacles you struggle with, and feel more at ease searching for the connection you seek.

  • No, that’s not my specialty. I work at the individual level. I can give you some great referrals, though.

  • Ask any good therapist you know: we’ve heard and talked about it all. Details about your sex life aren't going to throw me. And after a sexual assault, sex and intimacy are one of the most common fears and sticking points survivors have as they try to be in a relationship again. You’re human. Sex and sexuality are a natural part of you. That’s going to come up in the therapy room, too.

    (Feel free to use a few swear words, euphemisms, or slang terms, too. I’ll ask if I don’t know what it is.)

  • Yes, absolutely. Infections like HSV (herpes), HPV, and HIV can feel overwhelming and completely upending at first. It’s an adjustment, and you’re probably going to have feelings about it. At minimum, I know there are good odds you’re quite angry: you didn’t have a choice when you contracted this, but now you have to carry the burden of it, too.

    With the right information and good, open communication with a partner you trust, you can still have a full love life and (gasp) great sex, too - without putting your partner at high risk. You can still fall in love and get married if you want to. You can even give birth without passing the infection on to your child. It’s overwhelming to have to deal with this at first, but it can be just like any other chronic illness or long-term health condition. You learn what you need to know about it to keep your body and your partner’s body safe and healthy, and you do what you need to in order to take care of yourself while still living the abundant, happy, loving life you want. Your life is not over.

  • Great! We helped you find what felt right for you. The Single-Income No Kids life can be pretty good. Whether you want a traditional lifelong marriage with 2.5 kids and a white-picket fence, decide to roll solo and get IVF done in Sweden for the travel and great health care, or prefer to build out your life with fantastic friends, appropriately spoiled cats, and an abundant indoor plant collection, I’m here for it. It’s your life; you get to choose. You’ll find no judgment from me. 

    (I also have cats and indoor plants, think Sweden looks pretty grand, and love myself a good love story.) 

    I’m just the traveling companion keeping you company and asking you the questions that help you figure it all out. (Hey, maybe there will be snacks!)